Battery life windows devices

[Samtb]

Are there any windows laptops, with high ppi/retina screens, that can match the battery life of MacBook Pro 13? As well as CPU power & portability.

 

[shyam09]

Why not just buy a mac and install Windows through Bootcamp?

 

[Michael Goff]

Why not just buy a mac and install Windows through Bootcamp?

Windows on a Mac has always had bad battery life. :|

 

[ozaz]

Are there any windows laptops, with high ppi/retina screens, that can match the battery life of MacBook Pro 13? As well as CPU power & portability.

I don't know off the top of my head. But whenever shopping around for Windows laptops I always consult the objective battery life tests done by notebookcheck.net

For example, according to these reviews, the battery life (for wifi surfing test) on the QHD version of Dell XPS 13 is as good as the retina MBP when power saving mode is on

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9343-Touchscreen-Ultrabook-Review.135817.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Retina-13-Early-2015-Notebook-Review.139621.0.html

One note on very high res displays in Windows. I've always shied away from going above FHD because my understanding is there are a lot of desktop class Windows applications that don't scale well on very high res displays. But perhaps someone can say if this situation is improving?

Why not just buy a mac and install Windows through Bootcamp?

Some issues I have encountered with this in the past (although its around 3 years since I last used bootcamp):

- You don't get the full set of security features in Windows - e.g. Bitlocker disk encryption
- Many disk imaging based backup software for Windows won't work.
- You take a hit on battery life
- Not all Windows trackpad gestures work
- Can be non-optimal to use a Mac keyboard in Windows

 

[Michael Goff]

I don't know off the top of my head. But whenever shopping around for Windows laptops I always consult the objective battery life tests done by notebookcheck.net

For example, according to these reviews, the battery life (for wifi surfing test) on the QHD version of Dell XPS 13 is as good as the retina MBP when power saving mode is on

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Dell-XPS-13-9343-Touchscreen-Ultrabook-Review.135817.0.html

http://www.notebookcheck.net/Apple-MacBook-Pro-Retina-13-Early-2015-Notebook-Review.139621.0.html

One note on very high res displays in Windows. I've always shied away from going above FHD because my understanding is there are a lot of desktop class Windows applications that don't scale well on very high res displays. But perhaps someone can say if this situation is improving?



Some issues I have encountered with this in the past (although its around 3 years since I last used bootcamp):

- You don't get the full set of security features in Windows - e.g. Bitlocker disk encryption
- Many disk imaging based backup software for Windows won't work.
- You take a hit on battery life
- Not all Windows trackpad gestures work
- Can be non-optimal to use a Mac keyboard in Windows

The situation is improving, but it still isn't great. And with Windows 10, they're trying to make "Universal Apps" a thing ... which would work with HiDPI screens. For now, it's still hit and miss. Anyone going to Windows should look into what they're using beforehand.